It will be difficult to avoid the subject Monday, November 22 at the office. France, which outclasses New Zealand, will certainly make people talk. The historic victory of the Blues will of course have marked these 20 and 21 November but other sportsmen, like Lewis Hamilton, have also sparked. France also had a memorable weekend on four wheels, with Sébastien Ogier’s 8th WRC title. If you really want to be cocked, you can also salute the superb victory of the Mahut-Herbert duo at the Masters in doubles. In singles, on the other hand, it was the German Alexander Zverev who taught the lesson. Here is what to remember from this weekend.
Black is black, there are many hopes
New Zealanders have taken the tide. Black obviously. On the land of rugby, this lesson may not go very well and, in the land of sheep, some will already want to shear these players who have just lost two matches in a row against Ireland and France. If, at least, it could be used to shave those many cuts of mullet that bloom on the necks of the All Blacks …
Two years before the start of the World Cup in France, and an opening match against New Zealand precisely, it is an understatement to say that the success of the Blues at the Stade de France has been good for the morale of French households. We have long awaited a founding match for this team which has been revolving around the sublime for a long time, only scratching the surface. Facing the Blacks, she grabbed him with his arms around him. And if there was only one image to remember from this weekend, it would be this relaunch of Romain Ntamack, so daring and so unpredictable. So French after all.
Ogier hegemony
Same first name, same nationality and almost the same number of world rally titles. Sacred world champion for the 8th time in his career by winning Sunday at Monza, Sébastien Ogier moved closer to one unit from his compatriot Sébastien Loeb. But it is pointless to compare the two geniuses of the French rally. To each his own era, to each his own domination. Let the Gapençais driver savor this title and bid farewell to his lifelong co-driver, Julien Ingrassia. Ogier, him, does not cut the contact yet. A luxury freelance writer for Toyota in the world rally championship next season, the Frenchman is already preparing his transhumance to the world of endurance and that of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Hamilton nibbles
Eight is the number of Ogier titles but it is also, now, the difference in points that separates Max Verstappen from Lewis Hamilton. A gap to be filled in order to aim for … an 8th world crown. From the infinitely large to the infinitesimal. Eight points is nothing but it could have been even worse for the flying Dutchman, penalized and starting 7th on the starting grid of the GP of Qatar. The hot Red Bull driver managed to limit the temperature by finally finishing second, but he could not do anything against the Briton’s lone rider, imperial throughout the race. Thanks to this victory, Hamilton is back in the exhausts of his rival and everything will therefore be decided in the Arabian Peninsula during the last two scheduled Grands Prix. in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on December 5, then in Abu Dhabi the following week.
Zverev’s masterclass
Djokovic or Medvedev? While the world of tennis struggles to elect the boss of the end of the year, a third thief has settled, provisionally, the question. Alexander Zverev beat the first in the half before disposing of the Russian in the final after a one-sided game. The German, already a winner at the Tokyo Olympics, strikes a blow with this 2nd Masters coronation (after the one won in 2018): he is certainly not yet the only master on board, but he is laying his groundwork for the next season to come. What if we witness the birth of a new Big Three? Far, far away, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal ruminate in silence.
Like Zverev, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won a second Masters title, this time at the expense of the American-British pair Rajeev Ram-Joe Salisbury. Beaten in groups by these same opponents, the two Habs proved that they had learned the lesson well by flying over the final. Mahut and Herbert, the masters take off …
The disastrous OL-OM shock
Unfortunately, you could not miss this summit of stupidity, bad faith, disastrous communication, non-acceptance of its responsibilities that was the “shock” OL-OM. Since it must be said a few words, the match, interrupted three minutes after Dimitri Payet received a bottle in the head, finally never resumed after two hours of total blur.
Beyond the intolerable violence of the incident, it is indeed the entire system of prevention and repression of this kind of excesses that needs to be reviewed. Club presidents, LFP and regional prefect all floundering in the same slump of a sham settlement that does not solve anything, weekend after weekend.